A Song of Merry Discontent
by SkyetheWriter
Summary: In Fairytale Land, Princess Emma finds herself in the middle of the forest with no idea how she got there...until the group of travelers turn up and, of course, she assumes it's kidnap. But their mysterious leader has an unlikely ally that tells her everything isn't as it seems. An ally that Emma hasn't seen since Storybrooke. AU after the curse breaks. Eventual SwanQueen.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I got bitten by a plot bunny, nasty little devils, and this is the result. I wanted to writer something that took place in FTL anyway...so here we go. This will be SwanQueen, but not necessarily immediately. It might end up quite long, don't really know, depends on what happens and if people like it really. **

**Disclaimer: I would like to say own some of this...but technically actually I don't. You'll see what I mean.  
**

The forest was quiet, dead. There was nothing - not even the sound of birdsong - to break the deafening silence. The princess' eyes cracked open slowly, painfully aware of the throbbing in the back of her head as pushed herself off the damp bed of moss.

Where was she?

Last she remembered she'd been in the castle, preparing herself - albeit a little reluctantly - for the Christmas feast. Christmas was something that had stuck from the other world, the _real _world as she still called it, so many things had been lost when they'd come back over (some _people_ - people she tried not to think about anymore) but Christmas - along with a few other things - had managed to make its merry way across lands. She only wished that coffee had as well, not to mention her collection of leather jackets - she shuddered at the thought of what might have happened to those.

The blonde tried to pull herself up off the ground, only to fall straight back down again. Her head _really_ hurt. Perhaps she had a concussion - the thought occurred to her absently as she rubbed gingerly at the tender spot.

_What's my name?_ Emma. _Where am I?_ No fucking clue. _Should a princess be using language like that?_ Who gives a damn.

Well she couldn't be that concussed. She still sounded like herself. Though that still didn't explain why she'd woken up in the middle of a forest with an aching head. She tried to think back again. She'd been in her room; there'd been no one else around - since she still couldn't get used to servants helping her dress - just a deep blue gown laid out on her bed. Emma's gaze lowered to inspect herself, finding that same blue gown now hugging her figure. Yes, she remembered that - getting dressed. She'd done her hair as well - twisting it up carefully into a braided bun her mother had taught her to perfect, though it definitely didn't feel quite so neat anymore. Then after that…that's when things started to get fuzzy.

She sat up again, slower this time, and looked around for any sign that might tell her where she was or, more importantly, whom she was with. It wasn't like she'd just teleported into the middle of nowhere. Had she? She still didn't really know all that much about magic - maybe it was possible to just accidentally zap yourself random places without meaning to.

All thoughts of spontaneous teleportation came to an abrupt halt, however, as the unmistakeable crunch of distant footsteps broke through the silence of the forest. Footsteps coming in her direction. Ignoring the pounding in her head, Emma jumped off the floor - ready to run - but as she turned she felt something tug at her leg. Looking down she finally noticed it - the thick rope tied around her ankle. Her gaze followed it along the forest floor to where it was looped several times around a tree trunk. The footsteps were getting louder, and since she didn't much fancy sticking around to find out who they belonged to, she began to tug at the knot around her ankle. Despite her best efforts, though, the fastening wouldn't even loosen.

"Dammit," she mumbled, as she pulled at it the rope in vain. The footsteps were dangerously close now - if she was going to escape, then this was her last chance.

"I wouldn't bother, if I were you," too late, she looked up to see a large party of people emerging from behind the trees "Look here, our princess is waking up," there was a wave of laughter and Emma felt her hands drop from the her binding.

It didn't take a genius to work out when you'd been kidnapped - but she'd never have expected this many people. There were at least twenty of them - men and women, all wearing the worn clothes of travelers, all looking at her with an almost hungry expectancy. As if she were dinner. In the back of her mind, the silliest part, it occurred to her that maybe she was.

"Who are you?" she asked, straightening up to face the crowd

"Oh wouldn't you like to know," the man who'd spoken before answered. He was tall and well-muscled, his hair dark and his eyes darker. He was clean shaven and, unlike most of his companions, seemed reasonably well washed.

"Yeah, actually, I would," she replied, eyes narrowing. _Yes, not yeah_, her mother's voice echoed in her mind - because now was really the time to remember her elocution lessons.

"Well you can't," the man replied, his voice full of glee

"Well what am I supposed to call you then?" she asked through her teeth - if this guy was expecting her to act like a damsel in distress he had another thing coming.

"You can call me Jester," he replied, grinning

"Jester?" she tried - unsuccessfully - not to sneer "What kind of a name is that?"

"A fake one," his grin widened

"I figured," she grumbled "Now why am I here? What d'you want from me?" she was getting impatient. Either this man was going to kill her - or he'd kidnapped her for another reason - and since he didn't seem the murdering sort she was impatient to know just what in the hell was going on.

"Now why would you ask a thing like that? Here I am offering you my generous hospitality - and you go and ask me what I want from you. That's ever so ungrateful," he folded his arms across his chest, tut-tutting as he shook his head.

"Generous hospitality," she scoffed "I'm tied to a tree!"

"Only temporarily - we had do something with you until you came to,"

"Who's we?" she asked, impatience fast becoming anger at this man's games "Who the hell are you people?"

"Now now, Princess, don't you know it's rude to ask so many questions?" he began to walk slowly towards her, and Emma noticed the group shadowing his movements.

"I'm…sorry?" it came out more of a question than an actual apology, but it seemed to have the desired effect.

"That's okay, I forgive you. You'll soon learn that I'm a very forgiving man…of course you have a lot to learn about me…about all of us," he finally turned to the people behind him who were watching on in amusement.

"Might I learn who you _are_?" she asked, voice dripping sarcasm

"Of course…just not quite yet,"

She sighed in exasperation, whoever he was this man seemed skilled at talking in circles. Emma frowned, but nodded - it seemed the only immediate option if she wanted to get out of this.

"Fine," she huffed "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing yet…you'll need a little training first. For now you'll just be traveling with us,"

"I'm sorry - _what_?" this was a strange kind of kidnap "No. I want to go home,"

"Do you though?-really?" Jester's eyes danced in something similar to amusement, only darker.

"Of course I do…look if you don't want a ransom and you don't want to kill me, I don't see any reason why I can't just _go_,"

He laughed, a light, high-pitched chuckle that sent shivers down her spine "Oh Emma, my dear _dear_ Emma, of course there's a reason. The reason is that you don't want to. Look inside yourself and you'll see, you'll understand, you were unhappy there - and that's why you're here now. I didn't kidnap you, Princess, I saved you. I _freed_ you. That's what I do,"

She was beginning to feel distinctly uncomfortable "You what?" she asked, with a lot less confidence than before.

"I search for unhappy children and I set them free - but you wouldn't be here if you weren't willing. I call, but they must answer - and you did,"

If it weren't for the rope still holding her in place she'd have bolted, such was the terror taking hold of her heart "I did what?" she couldn't stop the tremor in her voice.

"You answered my call, Emma, just like all of them," he gestured to the crowd behind him "They answered the call just like you - and now you're one of them, one of us,"

"Wait so they're all…" she trailed off, unsure

"Like you," Jester grinned "They wanted to get away from their lives, from their families, so they answered my call,"

"Okay look, mister," she was scared, and confused, neither of which were things that Emma Swan liked feeling "I didn't answer any freaky call - so don't try and convince me otherwise. If you kidnapped me then fine, great, send an owl or a pigeon or whatever to my parents and they'll set you up - as much money as you want - but I would like to go _home_,"

Jester laughed again "You're a stubborn one aren't you? Oh well, if you won't believe me - maybe you'll believe someone else," he turned his head slightly "Oh Queeny?" he called and Emma rolled her eyes in frustration.

A figure stepped out from the back of the crowd, covered in a long dark hooded cloak that hid everything - even their face.

"You can take that off now, I want her to see you," at his instruction the figure unfastened the cloak and let it drop to the ground. Emma gasped.

"Regina?" she breathed, suppressing the urge to run to the woman, who was standing still as a statue, eyes fixed on the ground.

"Well go on, Queeny, tell her," Jester was practically jumping up and down. Regina didn't move.

"Go _on_," he urged and she finally began to pace forward, only stopping when she was face to face with the blonde.

"Regina," she said again, still not quite able to believe the woman was standing before her. No one had seen her since the curse broke, since the return to Fairytale Land. They all thought she'd been lost. Henry had asked and asked and asked, begged people to go out in search of her. Emma had happily headed up every search party – but all to no avail. It was as if the woman had simply vanished - and yet here she was - with a band of travellers, kidnappers, of all people.

Back in Storybrooke, when she saw the woman every day, Emma hadn't liked to confront the strange feelings she'd had for the Mayor. In her absence, however, realization had come much easier - not to mention more painfully. She had hardly come to grips with the idea that she might not actually _hate_ the woman, when she was ripped brutally out of her life, never to be seen again. God, the nights she'd spent crying over the loss - acutely aware that all that potential between them would never even have a chance to come to fruition. Suddenly her shock turned to anger - all that time she'd spent mourning Regina's loss, assuming she was dead - when all that time she'd just been with this crowd of miscreants.

"Where the hell did you go?" she shouted, and she didn't miss the shocked expression on the other woman's face "Did you not think about letting us know you were alright - that you were _alive_? Henry cried for weeks, Regina, weeks! He wouldn't eat, he couldn't sleep," _I couldn't sleep_ "What were you thinking? Don't you care? Didn't you care about how our son might react to your disappearing act?" she only noted vaguely that she'd referred to the boy as 'our' son.

"It's not…Emma I didn't-" a sharp cough from Jester cut her off, and Regina's anguished expression quickly changed to one of indifference. Emma frowned in confusion.

"_Your_ son, Princess," she replied quickly "and you're hardly in a position to judge. You've left him just as I did,"

"I didn't _leave_, Regina, I was _kidnapped_. By your friends apparently," she added, not bothering to hide the distaste in her tone.

"No, Princess, you weren't," the brunette replied matter-of-factly

"Erm…yes, I was…and stop calling me 'Princess' it's worse than 'Ms Swan'," she added irritably

"Fine then, _Ms Swan_, you weren't kidnapped,"

"Regina, look if you really think-"

"Do you trust me?" Regina asked, dark eyes wide and serious

"I…well…yeah, I guess," she shrugged, she trusted her more than Jester, certainly.

"Then believe me - you weren't kidnapped. To be here - and evidently you _are_ here - you must have answered the call,"

"And this call," Emma frowned "Did you answer it too?"

"Yes," Regina smiled, though there was a look in her eyes the blonde couldn't quite place "Yes, I did,"

**Hope you liked it. Please review and let me know. Incidentally - Jester is an actual fairytale character, though you might have guessed that already :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, I'm so sorry, this took a lot longer than I meant it to. I had some personal stuff happening that I had to deal with and didn't have much time to write. Anyway, here's the next chapter - thank you so much to everyone who's already shown an interest in this story, hope this lives up to expectations! :)**_  
_

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OUaT stuff. I don't even own Jester...although I do own this interpretation of him so that's, you know, something.  
**

_Stupid goddamn princess dresses. What she wouldn't give for a pair of jeans right now, not that she would have been allowed to _wear_ jeans._

_Emma was jumping up and down, tugging at the layers of deep blue satin - why did these gowns have to be so friggin' tight? Not to mention so…girly. She didn't want to go to the banquet, but as Princess she was expected to - she was expected to do all kinds of crap these days. They'd been here over a year now - and every day that passed she lost sight of Mary Margaret Blanchard and David Nolan, every day that passed her parents became more Snow White and Prince Charming. It was like they were forgetting that the curse had ever even happened; she wasn't so sure that that wasn't deliberate. Even Henry seemed more settled into their new life in Fairytale Land - in fact it worried her how accustomed he had become to the way things worked here._

_A knock on her door pulled her from her reverie and she gave the dress one final tug, finally getting it over her hips and holding it in place over her chest as she moved to the door._

"_Are you ready yet?" her mother swept in as soon as Emma had opened the door_

"_Why, Snow, how nice to see you - please, come on in,"_

"_Oh quit it with the sarcasm, Emma, I'm not in the mood," Snow turned on her_

"_Fine," she sighed "What did I do this time?"_

"_Are you ready yet?" she asked again_

_Emma gestured at herself with one hand, the other still holding the dress up "Do I look it?"_

_Snow sighed "See this is why told you to accept some help. You're going to be late,"_

"_I'm not going to be late; the feast doesn't begin for like two hours!"_

"_And you've hardly even got your dress on!"_

"_Hey, I'm doing my best! I just don't understand why these thi__ngs need to be so complicated," she grumbled, turning her attention back to the offending layers of material and trying rather unsuccessfully to lace the gown up by herself._

"_Oh for goodness' sake," Snow strode over and gently slapped Emma's hands away, beginning the lacing herself "Now, what are you going to do with your hair?"_

"_Can't I just leave it down?" Emma grumbled_

"_Absolutely not," she winced as her mother pulled one of the ribbons a little too tight "You are a princess, and princesses have to look the part,"_

* * *

Emma bolted upright, breathing heavy. She looked around quickly, panic setting in as she took in the dark forest around her, starkly different from the room she'd just been dreaming about.

"Emma?" she whipped around to see where the voice was coming from, gulping in deep lungful's of air "Hey, Emma, it's okay," it was Regina's voice, accompanied by one of her hands on the blonde's shoulder.

"Regina?"

"It's okay, you're okay,"

"What's happening?" she gasped, trying to control her breathing

"You're remembering, don't worry, it'll only be a couple of nights before you remember everything,"

"It was so real," she turned to look at the brunette, eyes wide.

"I know," she soothed "I know. It's because it was a memory not a dream,"

Emma's eyes were beginning to adjust to the dull light so she could just make out Regina's face - and the concern plastered all over it.

"Why're you being so nice?" she asked, immediately regretting it as she saw the hurt flash in the brunette's dark eyes.

"I just…I know what it's like…" she looked uncomfortable "I just want to make sure you're okay,"

Emma frowned; there was something wrong, something _really_ wrong about this whole damn situation. She just couldn't put her finger on it "What aren't you telling me?"

She didn't answer.

"Regina, for the love of god, what's going _on_?"

The other woman shook her head "I can't tell you," she whispered "I wish I could but you have to find out for yourself, that's what the dream was. Your memories will take a few days to come back but once they have you'll understand, I promise. But _I_ can't tell you …I'm sorry," she looked it.

"Fine," Emma huffed "but you better not be lying,"

Regina smiled sadly before walking away and rummaging around in the dark "Breakfast?" she asked, her tone full of forced cheerfulness.

Emma just groaned in response.

* * *

"Moving on!" Jester called from his perch halfway up a tree and, to Emma's wonder, the camp practically jumped to attention. Everyone began to pack up at quite an impressive rate, tossing pots and pans into wagons, securing packages to horses' backs. They were packed up, fires extinguished and all signs of their encampment erased, in all of about fifteen minutes.

"What's going on?" Emma asked, turning to the woman at her side

"We're moving on," Regina shrugged, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world

"I figured that," she replied through clenched teeth "I meant _why_?"

"Why'd you think? We're travellers Emma, that's kind of what we do," the blonde turned to look at the woman properly. Outside, in the harsh light of day, the gentleness and concern seemed to have vanished from Regina's face – replaced by a cool indifference.

"Regina?" Emma asked carefully, trying not to let panic take hold again.

"Yes, Princess?" she asked. Yep, there was a definite coolness in the woman's voice – as if that morning had never happened. She frowned.

"Nothing,"

"Good, come on then," she placed a gentle but firm hand on Emma's arm and guided her over to one of the wagons, taking a seat at the back with a clear view out.

"Princess!" Jester shouted gleefully and Emma nearly jumped out of her skin, turning to see the man standing disturbingly close to her "How are we doing then? You come to your senses yet?" he smirked, eyes flickering between her and the other people climbing into the wagon and she felt herself involuntarily shrinking into Regina's side. The brunette pulled away immediately.

"She's getting there – she's already had a memory," the woman addressed Jester, and Emma noted in wonder that there was something verging on respect in her voice. Since when did Regina respect _anyone_?

"Jolly good," he rubbed his hands together "You'll be one of the gang in no time," he gave her a wink and then disappeared off down the line of wagons and horses. The princess couldn't help but notice how people shrunk back just the slightest bit as he approached – though whether out of fear or respect she couldn't quite tell. It didn't really matter though – right now she was determined to find out just what was going on with the former Mayor of Storybrooke.

"Regina?" she asked, voice low "Why did you do that?"

"Do what, Princess?" she asked in that same cool voice

"Tell him what he wanted to know? The guy kidnapped me; he doesn't need to know anything,"

Regina sighed "He didn't kidnap you, Princess, I told you. You just answered the call," she shrugged. Emma dug her nails into her palms so hard she was sure she drew blood. _Whatever you do, don't hit her. Do. Not. Hit. Her. _

"_Regina_," she said, through clenched teeth "stop saying I answered the fucking call and tell me what's going on!"

"Manners, Princess," the brunette replied without even looking up

"Tell me, _please_," god she needed to hit something so badly

"There's nothing to tell," Regina shrugged again "except that you weren't kidnapped,"

"I'm going to kill you," Emma huffed, digging her nails even deeper into her hands

"Just so long as you don't make a mess of it, Princess,"

"Stop calling me Princess,"

"Whatever you say, your Royal Highness,"

_Don't hit anything.__ You're gonna get to the bottom of this.__ Just don't hit anything._

* * *

Fifth time lucky,shit, I hope it stays up this time. _Emma gingerly removed her hands __from her hair and, seeing__ that__ it hadn't moved__, gave her head a gentle shake. Her curls bounced but the elaborate bun stayed in place. _Yes! Finally. _She couldn't help grinning at herself in the ornate mirror. __Well at least she could do _something_ right – although it would have been a lot easier if there was hairspray in the Enchanted Forest. Apparently hair products were just anoth__er one of those things people didn't have here._

_There was another knock on her door, gentler this time, and Emma sighed as she got up to answer it_

"_Charming?" she asked, surprised, as he walked past her into the room_

"_Sorry to disturb you, Emma," he started, then stopped as he looked at her "Wow," he breathed "Darling you look beautiful,"_

_The blonde tried to hide her flinch at the pet name._

"_Thanks," she mumbled in response_

"_You know that's actually going to make what I have to say to you a little easier…I hope," he rubbed his jaw, looking a little awkward and Emma just stared at him, waiting._

"_Charming?" she prompted after a minute or so of silence on his part "What did you have to say to me?"_

"_Well, um, it's a little difficult – but the general point is that…well we think – your mother and I – we think that maybe it's about time you started…well, you know…looking. So we invited…that is to say that there'll be…and you should probably…at least say hello…" he trailed off, looking incredibly uncomfortable._

"_Whoa, okay, you're gonna have to__ back up because I have no idea what the hell you're talking about," she folded her arms across her chest__, noting quietly to herself how much _more_ of a chest that goddamned dress gave her._

"_Emma," he took a big breath "we want you to start looking for a husband,"_

_She laughed, but her father just looked at her._

"_Hang on…you're joking, right?"_

_Charming shook his head sadly._

"_Holy crap!" she shouted and it was his turn to flinch "What the hell? You want to marry me off?"_

"_What? No! God, Emma, of course not – look we're not forcing you into anything. We just want you to start looking, there's still a lot of tension in the kingdom and a wedding would help to settle the people," he answered apologetically._

"_So marry off Henry!" she shouted, completely aware of how idiotic that sounded_

"_Henry?" her father clearly was too_

"_Yeah – him and Grace are doing alright – marry them!"_

"_They're barely thirteen,"_

"_So?" she grumbled "They're more ready for marriage than I am!" that was probably true as well, though it made her a little sad. Her little boy had started growing up even quicker here than he had been back home. _

Home.

_God, she missed that place – Storybrooke – where even the strangest things hadn't compared to anything that happened in this place.__ Besides which she hadn't had parents commenting on her every move and how it was 'Un-Princess-like'__. She'd spent her childhood dreaming of parents who loved and babied her; that was the dream – when she was eight. Now she was almost thirty and after a life of being on her own, there were suddenly people who wanted to look after – only she didn't much like being looked after anymore.__ What she__ wouldn't __give to have her parents r__evert to just being her friends and stop being so _parenty.

_At that moment, Emma heard a noise off in the distance, faint and gentle but definitely there. It reminded her of wind chimes._

"_Emma?" her father asked_

"_Hmm? What?" she whipped her head back to him. When had she turned to stare out of the window?_

"_Emma were you even listening to me?" he asked, finally beginning to sound a little irritated._

"_What? Yes, no…maybe? I'm not getting married," she added absently, her gaze drifting back to her open window. Funny, she didn't remember opening it._

"_I'm not asking you to get married right now," he huffed "I'm just asking you to keep an open mind at the feast, okay?"_

"_Yeah…sure," she waved a hand in his direction and Charming took it as his cue to leave – hoping beyond hope that she'd taken in at least some of what he'd said._

_Once the door had clicked shut behind him, Emma strode over to the window, peering out intently. The noise came again, louder this time. It was beautiful, no question, celestial even. It also chilled her to her very core. The blonde slammed the window shut and backed away from it quickly, only to see it swing seamlessly open again._

What the hell. _She began t__o creep towards the window __again __but the noise was back__, louder __still__. It seemed to almost be in the room with her now, surrounding her in a melodic shroud. She could _feel_ it, and it wasn't chilling anymore – overwhelming, yes – but in a good way. It felt like the gentle caress of satin and the soothing calm of water, like peace and belonging and _freedom_. __It wasn't so much a noise as a song, a question, a _call_. It asked her to surrender herself to it and, willingly, she did._

**Hope you liked it, pretty please let me know what you thought! Also I'm assuming people have guessed who Jester is by now, yes? :)  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Heya, so here's the next chapter. Thank you so much to everyone reading – especially those of you who've reviewed, I always love to know what people think. It's interesting to see people's theories about Jester, all I'm gonna say is that my interpretation of him has some discrepancies with the original – he's my own version, not the traditional character. So bear that in mind.**

**Disclaimer: I own my interpretation of Jester, nothing else. Sad as that is.**

Emma jerked awake, gasping.

"Emma?" Regina's voice was heavy with sleep as she sat up, reaching almost automatically for the princess and wrapping her arms around her "Emma, what is it?"

"The call," she breathed, shaking in the other woman's arms "I answered the call,"

Regina's arms tightened their embrace and Emma felt her own arms responding, clinging to the brunette for all she was worth.

"I answered the call. How could I not remember?"

"No one does at first, that's just the way it works," she whispered gently

"Did you?" the blonde pulled back and stared at the woman with wide, frightened eyes.

"I…" something flashed behind Regina's dark eyes "Yes…yes, of course,"

Emma frowned – her super power was telling her that that was a flaming lie – but in her heart she felt desperate and scared, and she needed to believe that she wasn't alone in this. So she ignored her mind and listened to her heart.

"So…Jester won't be angry with me?" whoa – where had that come from? She didn't give a shit what Jester thought…did she? There was this nagging little part of her brain that told her that what he thought was actually very important, and it would be a lie to say that that wasn't scaring the hell out of her. Regina's expression wasn't helping either – the brunette was frowning, something very close to pain in her eyes – but then there was the sound of stirring across from them and she seemed to get a hold of herself, her face becoming calm again.

"No, Princess, of course he won't,"

"I thought I told you not to call me that," she grumbled

"Entitled isn't she?" came a voice from the direction of the previous noise.

"I wouldn't worry, Wendy, she'll learn soon enough that it won't get her anywhere – not around here," Emma's mouth opened to protest (she was getting increasingly confused my Regina's sudden changes in attitude towards her) but thought better of it.

The girl – Wendy, apparently – stood and began to rummage around the wagon "You two eaten yet?" she asked, a yawn escaping her mouth.

"We were about to," _Were we?_ "Want a hand?" Regina added as the girl began pulling things out of a large pack in the corner of the wagon.

"Yeah – we'll help," Emma offered – she didn't want people thinking of her as entitled, even people she didn't know. She stood too, though she promptly fell down again – how had she not noticed the bumping movement of the wagon until now? She tried to stand again, but suddenly felt very unstable on her feet and returned to her seat "Or, you know, Regina will,"

The brunette smirked.

"The Princess isn't used to such unsophisticated travel arrangements," she explained to Wendy, whose face was full of confusion at the Princess' in-coordination.

"It's okay," she turned to Emma, eyes full of sympathy "It took me a while to get used to it too…funny thing is, I can't really remember why," her eyes went a little distant, as if she was searching for memories of a past where travel by wagon train would have been foreign to her, but apparently she came up empty as all she did was shrug and turn to the food she'd pulled out.

Emma didn't miss the look of sympathy Regina shot the girl's back before turning to her again "As soon as we've eaten you need to go and see Jester. He needs to know you've remembered – then you can start your training," she smiled – apparently in excitement – but all Emma could think was that it looked very, very fake.

* * *

"The Queen and the Princess," Jester practically cooed as he leaned out of the half-open door at the back of his elaborately painted caravan "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Regina gave Emma a little nudge forward and the man's black eyes glistened in understanding. He let out a little laugh of delight, springing over the half-door and almost past the few steps to the ground.

"Well isn't this exciting!" he exclaimed, hands moving to cup the blonde's startled face "Princess Emma's got her memory back!"

"Yes, and she has something she'd like to say," Regina prompted from behind her, though something inside her told Emma that the brunette's sharp tone was not intended for her.

"Do you really, Princess?" his eyes shimmered in delight and she shivered internally. Odd, a day ago she wouldn't have been able to suppress the physical response to his – for lack of a better word – creepiness. Now it didn't seem to disgust her so much – what was _wrong_ with her? Regina coughed and she shook her head gently – his hands were still firmly planted on either side of her face.

"Yes I…I'm sorry,"

"Sorry for what?" he was so clearly enjoying this

"For not believing you…for accusing you of kidnapping me when it was my fault all along,"

"Oh now don't say that," he replied, voice full of mock sadness "No one's at fault here except the parents that drove you from your home…right?"

She felt his eyes boring into hers, calm and reassuring, and suddenly she couldn't help but agree with him "Right," she mumbled.

"Only those who are…shall we say…repressed, can even hear my call in the first place. If you hadn't been unhappy, you wouldn't even have known you _c__ould_ answer the call. It wasn't your fault you heard me…it was your family's," he continued, voice sugar-sweet and honey-smooth. It was beautiful, really beautiful – his voice – she'd never noticed before.

_Wait, what? What the hell is happening to you…don't l__isten to him!_ The rational part of her mind was tugging at her, but his eyes were still locked onto hers and she felt her resolve to resist him weakening.

"You can't be blamed for wanting freedom, now, can you?"

She shook her head "No" she breathed.

"I know you don't like me-"

"I like you!" she protested. _I do?_

He grinned "Good, I'm so glad. Now you and Queeny here hop off back to your wagon and I'll come and find you later. Now you're in your right mind you can start training,"

_Training for what?_ She asked herself, but somehow the question didn't linger – instead she found herself curious to begin meeting other members of the group. After all, she had been rather rude to them.

* * *

Emma spent the morning circulating, talking to the people who she'd previously considered her kidnappers, learning all about this life they lived together on the road. Every new person she talked to, every new piece of information she learned, made her more excited to be a part of this strange assembly. Every person was different from the last, all with their own stories – though all seemed to center on unhappy families or upbringings – and Emma had never felt understood by so many people in her life.

If she was honest, it scared her a little – the way she felt such a sense of belonging with these people. What scared her more was the vague way they all talked about their unhappy pasts, as if they knew these things had happened to them but they didn't quite _remember_ them happening – where they'd happened, how they'd happened.

Wendy was a brilliant example of this. The girl talked about her home as if she knew she'd had one, but she really had no idea what it was like. All she really seemed sure about was that her father had been pushing her into growing up so she'd run away to a place called Neverland with her brothers and a boy called Peter – but then they'd met Jester – and the rest was history. The blonde found something about her story eerily familiar…it was like she _knew_ it…she just couldn't quite access the place it was stored in her mind. That scared her even more.

Actually, there was a part of her brain that had been feeling increasingly uneasy since that morning's meeting with Jester. It was like her mind had started fogging over, things that she knew should be worrying her – or standing out as strange – weren't making the impression they should have. It was scary as hell…and yet at the same time she couldn't quite bring herself to care.

Jester came to find her just after lunch, practically jumping up and down in excitement as he put an arm around her shoulders and turned them to face the camp.

"Ladies and Gents," he started grandly "You might have noticed that our humble little party has a new member…well it took her a little time to get her head sorted, but now she has, I'm happy to announce that Princess here is ready to start her training – and I dare say she's going to need a lot of it," he laughed, and Emma felt that familiar shiver – though she tried to shrug it off. There was nothing wrong with Jester.

_You really believe that?_ She asked herself. Yes, she did…she had to. He didn't kidnap her – she had no reason not to trust him. _He's still creepy as hell_.

"So folks," he continued, squeezing her tightly with the arm around her shoulders "Have at her!" and then he pushed the princess forward towards the, now standing, crowd of people and dancing off back into the trees.

The group circled her, and the blonde couldn't help feeling the same way she had two days ago when she'd woken up in the forest to Jester and his posse – like she was dinner.

"Well she's not gonna be any good dressed like that," a woman – who looked at least seventy – pointed out "Fancy dresses are fine for balls, but no one's ever done a day's work looking like that,"

"Alright, why don't you go find her some decent clothes then?" a middle-aged man snapped at her. She grumbled, but walked off to the wagons anyway.

"It's Emma, right?" he asked, turning to her. She nodded. "Okay, Emma, what are you good at?"

She looked up at him, confused "Huh?"

"I said," he snapped "What are you good at? Blades? Unarmed? Traps? Camouflage? What's your thing?"

_What in the hell? _"I…I don't think I have a thing," she looked around for help, not really expecting any, until Regina stepped into the middle of the circle with her.

"Of course she doesn't have a thing, Rufus, she's a Princess. Don't be so bull-headed,"

He grumbled in response, but backed off.

The brunette turned to her "You can wield a sword can't you?"

Emma nodded quickly.

"Anything else?" she demanded.

"I…" she ran a hand through her hair, realizing suddenly what a mess it was "No I don't…I don't think so,"

"That's okay, you can be taught," Regina's voice still had that same indifferent tone, but the blonde realized that it didn't bother her quite as much as it had the previous day. Strange.

"Regina, we don't have _time_ to teach her anything new. Jester was right – she's gonna need a lot of training – and that's _without_ her having to master a whole new skill. She can join Combat,"

Emma thought she saw panic flash in the other woman's eyes, but her consequent shrug made her think that she might have just imagined it.

"Fine…but try not to spoil her, she has got royal blood, after all,"

* * *

It had almost broken Regina's heart as she'd watched Emma's eyes glaze over, as the blonde had breathed the word 'No' in agreement with Jester. She hadn't known Emma had been his next target – hadn't known she would _ever_ be his target, that she was even unhappy. If she'd known, if she'd known that the stubborn blonde's life was anything short of idyllic, then she would never have taken her mother's deal.

Cora had been waiting when they got back to the Enchanted Forest – waiting for _her_ – and her mother had already had an ultimatum up her sleeve. Leave Henry and Emma (Cora seemed to have been lingering under the strange impression that she and Emma had been a couple) and come with her to be the obedient daughter she'd always deserved, or they'd both die.

It had been an easy enough decision – she knew that the Charmings would be far happier without her in the equation anyway. Sure she'd miss Henry, she might even miss Emma, but what kind of a choice was it? Leave the only two people in the world she even remotely cared about to live their lives happily without her whilst she endured the punishment she deserved, or put them all in danger because of her own cowardice.

Only clearly Emma hadn't been happy, she'd been so unhappy that Jester had managed to get to her. If she'd known that would happen then she would have stayed, she would have fought her mother and stuck around to keep an eye on everything. Instead she'd just given up.

She couldn't help worrying about Henry, if Emma was unhappy, then surely so was Henry. He couldn't be happy if his mother wasn't, could he? Regina certainly hoped not – she loved her son – but if he was happy and content whilst his mother was clearly suffering, if he had sat idly by whilst she had been hurting, then she was not going to be happy with him.

"I like you!" Emma's voice held such a desperate desire for approval, Regina wondered if the blonde realized it herself. If she'd been in her right mind then the brunette was sure she would have been disgusted with herself.

The problem was – Emma wasn't in her right mind. Regina had hoped beyond hope that the dreams would be short and spaced out over a week or so, but no such luck. Of course the memories had hit the princess hard and fast and before the brunette had even got her head around the situation she was losing her. The blonde was already slipping away. As Jester pushed the other woman back in her direction she could see the distance in her eyes – reassured only slightly by the confusion that sat alongside it.

She spent the afternoon watching carefully as Emma had gotten to know her fellow travelers, fighting at the fog lapping at her brain – if there had ever been a moment she needed to retain her awareness then it was now, when Emma couldn't. It was harder to fight in the daytime, harder to keep her head on straight – she'd already lost the fight several times with Emma around – but she couldn't afford to. Not now. So she put everything she had into staying focused, whilst also maintaining the impression of indifference, observing the blonde in her interactions.

She looked on from a distance as Jester arrived and threw her (metaphorically, of course) to the wolves. She tried her best to stay away, she really did, but Rufus was a jerk at the best of times – and he had a particular disdain for anyone of noble birth. The blonde had looked so lost, so confused, that she hadn't been able to stop herself from stepping in beside her.

When Rufus had said he was putting her in Combat she had wanted to scream, but there was nothing she could do. She'd made a sarcastic comment and then promptly taken her leave, anxious for Jester not to see her or the panic in her expression. He'd already punished her for showing recognition when Emma had first turned up – he knew that his hold over her wasn't quite like his hold over everyone else – but he was certainly determined to prove he was still in control of her. She wished so desperately that there was something she could do, something to free them both of his hold, but there wasn't. Whatever magic she had that stopped him from being able to completely scramble her brain, it wasn't enough for anything else. So for all intents and purposes – when it came to Jester – she was powerless.

**Hope you liked it – pretty please let me know what you thought? :)**

**p.s. Everything will be explained eventually, believe me, I know it's confusing right now but it will (hopefully!) ****all ****make sense in the end. If, however, anyone is going crazy about who Jester is or what's happening, then please feel free to PM me and I'll be happy to explain as much or as little as people want to know :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Next chap. Huge thank yous to everyone for feedback, as always, it means a lot knowing what people think. From what people are saying, I get the feeling that some of you missed something last chapter - there was a sentence which eliminated one candidate for Jester which I don't think everyone picked up on. I'm not gonna say anymore though, it's fun being mysterious. Anyway, enjoy!  
**

**Disclaimer: I own my interpretations, I don't own the actual characters. Pity that, isn't it?  
**

She didn't know what she'd expected 'training' to be like, but whatever she'd thought – she certainly hadn't imagined this. They'd been working her for nearly a week non-stop. Her days went breakfast, training, lunch, training, dinner, training, sleep. The weird thing was though, every time she began to feel it was a little tedious then something would happen – Jester would turn up with his sparkling eyes and wicked smile, or someone would play a practical joke on Rufus that made him turn red and start shouting his head off – and she'd forget that she'd been feeling at all unhappy.

Occasionally she'd see Regina out of the corner of her eye, lurking in the shadows watching her. To start with it had been reassuring – there was still a part of her mind that was freaking out over this whole damn situation and wanted to cling to the only familiar thing she had. It was that same part of her mind that reminded her of those strange feelings she felt for the brunette, the way her heart had eased slightly at learning the woman was still alive and how her arms around her had calmed the panic in her chest after the return of her memories. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately – she wasn't really sure – that part of her brain seemed to be losing it's say in situations. As the week drew on she began to feel more comfortable with the other members of Combat than with the brunette and the doubts her presence drew out of her, so avoiding her began to seem like the best course of action if she ever wanted any peace of mind.

The more she avoided her, the more she seemed able to forget the worries of the life she'd chosen to leave. Her training was going well, and by the end of the week they said she was ready to go out with them on their next operation.

Her first mission had been a small one – simple, easy and quick. Emma didn't know what she'd been expecting – what she'd thought the business of Jester and his gang had been – but she had to admit, she'd been a little shocked that it appeared to be, at least partly, petty thievery.

_They'd hidden in the bushes by the side of the road; Trap team had already set up the ambush so all they had to do was watch and wait. The carriage had arrived mere minutes later – Scout team having already checked out and reported prospective targets so that they didn't have to wait longer than necessary. It was elaborately ornate – obviously the property of someone overly wealthy – and pitifully poorly guarded. They stopped without question for the tree across the road and within seconds she and the team were on them. Her job had been to detain the driver, to hold her sword to his throat whilst the others ridded the carriage's occupants of their valuables._

_The way they had whimpered – the way the driver had pleaded for his life and the other members of Combat had laughed at him – had all made her a little uncomfortable, her only comfort was that it _had _been spared. At least they didn't seem to be killers –__ not this time anyway._

* * *

These little excursions had continued week after week – some easy as the first – some slightly more problematic. She hardly noticed that she was gradually becoming less bothered by their antics – that the scared pleas of the people they robbed were beginning to make her laugh along with the others. She'd hardly realized how much progress she'd made within the group until one night a month or so later at dinner, when Jester turned up with a huge, mischievous grin on his face announcing that in two days they'd be taking Emma on her first big mission.

For some reason the only person whose reaction she'd paid any attention to was the dark-haired woman, Regina's. She'd looked up to see her across the fire from her, dark eyes full of worry and sadness. It tugged at her in a way she didn't understand. There was a tiny whisper somewhere in the corner of her mind that told her she should understand it – that there was something very wrong with the fact that she _didn't _anymore. But then Jester was at her side congratulating her, dark eyes glistening in the firelight, and she turned her attentions back to Combat team, who were all talking excitedly about the upcoming assignment and what it might entail.

She didn't see Regina again for the rest of the night.

* * *

The next day, however, she awoke to find the woman standing over her, face unreadable.

"Princess," she greeted "Get up, we need to talk," Emma blinked herself awake, quickly pulling on some clothes before stumbling after the brunette as she headed off into the trees. She only realized after she'd been walking a few minutes that it was still barely light – the sun hadn't quite appeared on the horizon yet.

"Regina?" she asked as the woman continued walking them further into the undergrowth "Where are we going? You know we're not supposed to go too far from camp – Jester won't be happy," that tiny whisper was back again, telling her that maybe she shouldn't be listening to Jester's orders – but she shook her head at the ridiculous notion. Jester was their leader; his orders were the only important ones.

"I don't care what Jester thinks," the brunette snapped, turning on her "and neither should you,"

Emma frowned; she couldn't remember anyone ever saying anything like that before, at least not out loud, couldn't imagine why they'd want to. Apparently this was obvious on her face, because Regina's own brow furrowed then, and she took a careful step towards her.

"Emma?" she asked – not Princess, not your Royal Highness, just Emma – and there was something so familiar in it that it made Emma's frown deepen.

"Emma look at me," the blonde met Regina's gaze, eyes questioning.

"Regina, what's going on? Why did you bring me out here?"

"Because I need to talk to you before you go on this stupid mission,"

"Stupid? It's not stupid! It's my first big mission – I'm excited," she grinned

"Excited?" Regina looked disgusted "Emma, you know that this mission's probably going to mean you have to kill someone – yes?"

She shrugged "So?" her mind floated back to their heist from a few days ago – to how their victim had actually burst into tears and started grovelling before Rufus had run him through with a knife – and she felt a little laugh escape her lips "If I do, I really hope they beg,"

The brunette's face fell, horrified, and she began to shake her head.

"No. No, no, no. Emma this isn't you…you're not this person – why can't you see that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're the _good_ one!" she shouted, her arms flying up into the air in anger "You're the person who does the right thing even when you don't want to – you don't kill people unless it's absolutely necessary, and you _certainly_ don't enjoy watching people beg for their lives!"

"How the hell would you know?" the blonde huffed in response and watched on as Regina seemed to do some kind of internal battle with herself before groaning and taking another step forward – right into her personal space.

"Look I know you don't really know me," she started carefully, something flickering in her dark eyes that made Emma's heart twist a little uncomfortably "But I need you to trust me…please,"

"I…" she didn't know how to respond. She knew she shouldn't trust the other woman – how could she trust someone who was so blatantly working against Jester's orders? But that tiny little voice was back again and it was telling her that she should…and it was so tempting.

No, _no_. She couldn't betray Jester…although maybe she could try to find out what was going on with her and report back to him.

"Okay," she replied and thought she saw Regina sigh in relief.

"Okay, look, I know this seems like a strange thing to say – but you can't go on that mission tomorrow. You_ can't_. This isn't who you are – Jester's forcing you into being this person. I'm trying to find a way to stop him, I am, but I need you to help me by not indulging him – can you do that for me?" her dark eyes were imploring, difficult to resist – but her loyalty was to Jester – so she did. Of course, she pretended that she hadn't.

"Yes, yes okay. If it really means that much to you I won't go tomorrow,"

The brunette sighed again, a small smile finally tugging at her features "Thank you,"

* * *

"She said what?" Jester's black eyes glittered dangerously.

"She said that you're manipulating me and that she's looking for a way to stop you but that it would help if I didn't indulge you so I shouldn't go on the mission tomorrow," the blonde recounted dutifully.

"Well, well," he let out a little high-pitched chuckle "Mutiny in the ranks,"

"I thought you should know,"

"Oh yes…yes, definitely. Thank you for telling me, Princess," he smiled and patted her cheek gently "and I take it you are still going tomorrow, yes?"

She nodded eagerly.

"Good. Off you go then, it seems I have something to attend to,"

* * *

Regina wasn't at lunch, neither was Jester.

She tried to ignore the strange whispers of concern in her mind caused by this information. She had no reason to worry about Regina. Did she?

_Yes, yes you do._

No she didn't. She _didn't_.

* * *

She did.

Jester practically skipped over to the group at dinner, eyes dancing with the reflection of the campfire's flames. He talked animatedly to everyone as he ate, laughing and joking as if everything was fine. Regina wasn't there though – and it made Emma begin to feel a little uncomfortable.

"Oh, Princess?" she jumped, he'd snuck up right behind her "I've got something to show you," he grinned and pulled her up by her arm "Excuse us, Ladies and Gents, but the Princess and I have things to discuss about her mission tomorrow,"

Everyone murmured their goodbyes, excitement in their tones as the topic turned immediately to that very same thing as the two of them wandered off.

Jester led her away from the camp and out into the forest – they seemed to be in around the same place Regina had taken her that morning.

"What did you want to show me?" she asked carefully as they seemed to come to a stop.

"Justice," he grinned, and pointed to the opposite edge of the small clearing "Take a look,"

It was dark, so Emma had to walk a little to be able to see what he was talking about – but as she crossed the small space she began to make out the shape of a figure, slumped at the bottom of a tree. She turned back to look at Jester questioningly – trying to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach – and his eyes gleamed back at her in satisfaction. She approached the figure cautiously, before bending down to get a proper look.

It was Regina, of course, but she didn't seem hugely conscious. The left side of her face was swollen – bruised – with a large cut running right across her cheek. Her arms were bare and showed signs of similar abuse; her dress covered all over in patches of blood.

"Regina?" she asked gently, aware of the slight catch in her throat. The woman groaned and her eyes cracked open a tiny amount.

"Emma?" she asked, and the blonde nodded quickly

"Yeah it's me, I'm here," why had she said it like that? Why had it been a reflex to comfort the woman?

"You told him," the brunette's voice was quiet, but the hurt in it was unmistakeable. The blonde hated that she didn't understand the awful guilt it made her feel.

"That's because she knows what's good for her," Jester piped up from behind the blonde, voice light "She knows not to take my generosity for granted,"

"Why did you do this?" Emma turned to him, anger flaring within her "Why did you hurt her?"

His eyes went wide and innocent "She tried to hurt me, Princess; she tried to upturn the happy balance of things that I've worked to set up. That couldn't go unpunished. Besides, it's good for you to understand what happens when you disobey me – you've been here long enough that you shouldn't be making mistakes now. You've got plenty of training – that's why I'm trusting you with this mission tomorrow," he grinned, and the shiver Emma hadn't known she'd forgotten about ran down her spine.

"So what you're saying is that if I…"

"If you mess up tomorrow I'll have to punish you for it, yes," he smiled sadly – though not overly so – his eyes were still shining "It seems to be the only way people learn I'm afraid…and I know that you still have your doubts about being loyal to me,"

She opened her mouth to protest but he interrupted her "You needn't deny it, Princess; I can see it in your eyes. Every so often you get this little niggling feeling that tells you not to trust me. Well it's wrong…it's put there by people like her," he nodded in Regina's direction "And it needs to be crushed – dissenters like her need to be crushed. Do you understand?"

She felt herself nodding in agreement, though she wasn't completely sure that she did.

"Good," he grinned "now if you'll excuse me, I'd rather like some dessert," and with that he practically bounced off back towards the camp.

Emma sat there for a moment, completely stunned, until a groan from behind her made her whip around.

"Regina?"

"Go away," the woman replied.

"Regina I'm not going to leave you," she replied firmly, no idea where this protective streak had reared up from. Wherever it had come from though, it caused the other woman's eyes to fly open and stare at her.

"Emma?" she asked, something desperately hopeful in her voice.

"Yeah, it's me. Look, Regina, I'm so sorry – really. I had no idea that he'd…I thought that…I don't know what I thought," she sighed "but I'm going to make it up to you," _I am?_ _How exactly am I meant to do that?_ "I won't go – tomorrow – I won't go on the mission,"

"Don't be stupid, Princess," the brunette murmured, something in her tone strikingly familiar "You have to,"

"But…you don't want me to?" she asked, brow furrowed.

"No," she breathed, slowly pulling herself upright and wincing in pain "but you can't not – not now – he'll just punish you,"

"I don't care," She _didn't_?

Regina laughed – sure it was weak and half-hearted – but it still made Emma's heart lighten a little. It was beginning to really freak her out the way she reacted to this woman without understanding why. Her eyes drifted down to the brunette's face to find that she herself was being closely inspected by Regina's deep brown eyes.

"What?" she questioned – suddenly feeling incredibly self-conscious.

"You're still in there," was the unhelpful response

"You know that you talk nonsense right?"

"Whatever you say, Princess,"

"Don't call me Princess," she snapped back without thinking. _Why did I say that?_ She frowned.

Regina just smiled to herself.

**Hope you liked it. Please do let me know what you think, I always love to hear - even if it's just a couple of words.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Next chap. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Own nothing except my interpretations.  
**

The morning of the mission dawned crisp and bright, and the excitement in the camp was almost tangible. Everyone was saying that this was going to be the biggest plot they'd pulled off for a long time, maybe ever, that their target was _big_.

Unfortunately Emma was not nearly as excited as everyone else – not anymore. This time yesterday she'd been practically ecstatic at the idea of joining a big heist, now though, she couldn't stop thinking about Jester's warning – about what awaited her if she slipped up. Worse still – though she _still _couldn't understand why – was the idea of being away from camp and leaving Regina alone and unprotected in Jester's grasp.

"Promise you won't do anything stupid?"

"Course I won't," she mumbled as she tightened her sword belt.

"Emma," Regina sounded unconvinced.

"I promise," she said, turning to meet the woman's concerned gaze "I'll have all of Combat with me – I'll be fine,"

"You better be," the brunette breathed, barely audible, and Emma couldn't stop a tiny smile pulling at the corners of her mouth._ What the hell is going on with me?_

"I'll be back before you know it – just try and stay out of trouble,"

* * *

She hadn't _thought_ she was looking forward to it anymore, but as they began to creep through the undergrowth surrounding their target Emma couldn't quell the growing sense of anticipation within her. This was her first big mission; she'd been working towards this for months – why shouldn't she enjoy it?

"Rufus are you gonna tell us what the target is yet?" Wendy asked – apparently she had picked up quite a knack for both fencing and archery somewhere along the way – and was an unlikely but essential part of Combat.

"_I_ don't even know yet, Wendy," Rufus grunted "We won't know until Scout come back,"

As if on cue, a small group of people came darting through the forest towards them. Scout team was made up mainly of the younger members of the gang – since they were small, fast and agile.

"Well?" Rufus asked "What are we looking at?"

"You'll never believe it!" Wendy's brother, Michael, was jumping up and down in excitement.

"It's unbelievable!" his brother John added – both were members of Scout.

"_What_ is?" Rufus grumbled.

"The target! It's a castle!"

There was a murmur through Combat. A castle? Surely that was a little ambitious, even for them.

"Can't be," Rufus shook his head "You idiots went the wrong way,"

"No," John shook his head "We checked…and double checked,"

"And triple checked!" Michael grinned.

"It's where Jester's directions led us. That's where he wants us to go," John confirmed.

"Why on earth would he want us to do a castle?" Wendy asked "It's too big,"

"Maybe he felt it's time we branched out," another member of Combat – William, she thought was his name – answered with a wicked grin "there's a good number of us now – who's to say we can't swing this? We all knew this was gonna be a big one,"

Rufus frowned "That's true. Hang on – didn't you use to be a princess, Emma?" he asked and she nodded – funny, how she couldn't really remember much from that life – only that she'd lived it at some point "Well I guess that explains it then,"

She turned to him "How exactly?"

"It's your first big mission – this is like your initiation test. Jester likes to make them personal – I had to burn down a bakery,"

She frowned.

"I was a baker's son or something," he shrugged "not that it matters. But that's why he's sent us to a castle…in fact…yes that makes his instructions make a lot more sense. I thought he was talking in some kind of code – apparently not though. Time to get your own back, Princess," his face broke out into a grin and a ripple of excitement passed through the team.

"Right then, gather round everyone – Jester's instructions were simple – I thought they were code, but if the target's a castle then evidently he meant what he said,"

"So what did he say," Emma asked, excitement mounting along with everyone else's.

"Storm the castle, kill the prince,"

"Kill the prince?" she asked

"That's what he said – he also said that that second honour was to be yours alone," Rufus admitted – seemingly a little grudgingly.

Storm a castle, kill a prince – she had to admit – it sounded like fun. Emma grinned "Right then, what's the plan of attack?"

* * *

They listened to Scout explain what they'd assessed about accessibility, and decided to split into smaller groups and approach from different points. She was with Rufus and Wendy – they were going in from the East, their main objective to find this Prince. Everyone else was to find and take whatever treasures they could and then get out as quickly as possible.

They got in easily enough – Wendy shot the guards before they even realised they were in danger. Then they stole the uniforms and made their way inside.

"I reckon we should go our separate ways from here," Rufus said once they were changed "Wendy and I'll go help the others – you find this prince,"

Emma nodded and headed off down the corridor, figuring the easiest place to start would be the castle living quarters. She found the small service stairwell and began to make her way up; mentally going over her training on the off-chance something went wrong. She stopped off on every level, sticking her head carefully through the door to see where she was, and after five flights of stairs she finally found herself on a floor decorated in warm tapestries and carpets. Somehow she knew without doubt that this was where the royal quarters were.

It only occurred to her as she stepped carefully out into the hallway that she had absolutely no clue who this prince was or what he looked like. Finding him, then, might prove a little difficult. Not that that little drawback mattered – she could feel the excitement coursing through her veins and she wasn't going to be stopped by this minor drawback.

Emma set off, walking with purpose like any guard would. She rounded several corners, casting furtive glances through the half-open doors she encountered and listening carefully at the closed ones. All the rooms around here appeared empty though – much to her annoyance. She carried on, following the long hallways for several minutes until finally she heard the sound of voices approaching and ducked into a nearby alcove, waiting.

The voices were both male – one the lower tone of an adult, the other held the slightly lighter tone of early adolescence – and something tingled uncomfortably inside her at the sound. She shook it off though, placing a hand on the hilt of her sword as she realised this was the perfect opportunity to ask for the Prince's whereabouts. The blonde sucked in a deep breath as the sounds got ever closer, pressing herself further up against the wall and mentally reviewing all her training once again. She didn't even pay attention to what they were saying, only watched with a hawk-like expectancy as her prey continued on, unawares, now with their backs to her and completely unsuspecting.

Emma waited until they were a good few paces further away before turning to double check the direction they'd come from – all clear – and finally drawing her sword to pounce.

She struck with the snake-like speed and accuracy that her months of training had gifted her with, cutting down the man without a second glance before knocking the shorter one down to the floor and putting a foot on his chest.

"The Prince," she growled without hesitation "where is he?"

The boy – his face gave away his youth, though he was a little gangly – just stared up at her, eyes wide. He seemed to be stuttering a little, as if he were trying to talk but couldn't quite get any words out.

"The Prince," she said again "Where. Is. He?"

"I…wh..how…" he stammered, struggling beneath her foot.

The movement made her laugh "Really?" she asked, tone condescending "you gonna try and escape?"

The boy just gaped and she moved her sword to dig the point into his chin "Cos I'll tell ya, that'd be a bad idea. Now I asked you a question – where is the Prince?"

"Here," he choked out "I'm here,"

Emma laughed, well that had just been far too easy. Besides which, she couldn't believe that this skinny little child was a Prince.

"You?" she couldn't control the laughter "You're a _Prince_?"

"Well someone has to be," he mumbled.

"So your parents – they're the king and queen of this land?"

"I don't have parents," he replied, his eyes darkening.

She laughed again "Everyone has parents you stupid boy,"

"Not me," he replied "not anymore. Why d'you think I'm heir to the throne?"

"You're the _heir_?" she asked incredulously, pressing the tip of her sword a little further into his throat and laughing as he tried unsuccessfully to pull away from it.

"As I said – someone has to be,"

She should have killed him already, she knew that – but something about the boy's situation had her strangely intrigued. How could someone so young be the immediate heir to a throne?

"Alright then – _why_ do you have to be?" she asked, trying to keep her tone indifferent sounding. She didn't want to give him any ideas he'd be able to talk his way around her.

"Because the Princess is gone,"

"The Princess is _gone_?"

"She was taken," he replied, eyes darkening further still.

"Taken where?" she pressed.

"I don't know. We looked for her for a long time – we're still looking – but since she's not here someone had to take her place as heir,"

Emma was beginning to feel distinctly uncomfortable, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why.

"Well then," she started "sounds like you've got a pretty messed up kingdom over here, pity that I'm here to mess it up even more," she was laughing again, mainly because she wanted to dispel the feeling of unease creeping within her.

"I take it you're here to kill me?" the boy responded, the courage in his young voice almost evoking respect within her. She should have just killed him and had done with it.

"That's right," she answered, mentally kicking herself for the slight uncertainty she heard in her own voice "You gonna beg me not to?" despite her sudden doubts, there was still hope and excitement in her voice…until the boy shook his head.

"And give you the satisfaction? Nu-uh, go ahead – kill me. I'm not begging for anything,"

Emma could literally feel herself deflating. This was _not_ how it was supposed to go.

"What you don't wanna live?" she pressed the sword harder against his throat, delighting at the way he squirmed "It sure looks like you do," she laughed again. _Okay, okay see it's fine. I can get this back on track._

"No one _wants_ to die – not really – but I don't seem to have much choice. Do I?"

Goddamn this kid and his smart mouth "You might – if you _beg_," that was a lie, but what was the point of all this if she didn't get any satisfaction?

"Okay – I'll make you a deal," he sighed "I'll beg so you can pretend to consider it-"

"On what condition?" she asked quickly.

"Take that stupid helmet off," he replied "You're obviously not a guard, so I don't know you. If I'm gonna die then I want to see the person who's killing me," there was fear in the boys eyes, despite his composed exterior. God, did he really have to make this so damned difficult?

She considered the deal for a minute, before nodding slowly "Okay, fine. We gotta deal,"

He nodded, gulping, before squeezing his eyes shut and taking a couple of long, deep breaths to compose himself.

"Take it off then," he said through gritted teeth "and then I'll beg,"

Emma sighed and reached for the edge of her helmet, pulling it off and shaking out her long blonde curls.

"Alright, _Prince_, take a good look – mine's the last face you're gonna see, after all,"

"I know," he took another deep breath before slowly cracking his eyes open – as if he were expecting some terrible monster to have been revealed before him. The way his eyes widened much further than she would have thought natural begged that that was exactly what he was seeing – but rather than crying out in fear of the apparent beast before him, instead his mouth fell open in shock and one word fell off his startled lips. A word which made Emma's stomach twist in a mix of emotions so complicated she couldn't even begin to untangle them.

"Mom?!"

**I had this chap written already - so I thought I'd proof read and post it, but after this I don't know how soon the next update's gonna be. I have lots of ideas for stories but very little time to write them, and since this one doesn't seem to have much interest in it I may be focusing in on some other projects for a while. I will finish this one up - but there's so many other things I could/should be doing I can't say exactly how soon that will be. Thanks to everyone who's read it thus far though, means a lot :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Heya, so I'm back. Got my inspiration back for this story so I'm carrying on again. Sorry, for the wait and thank you so much to everyone who's read it and shown their support so far. Hope it was worth waiting for :)**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own half as much as I'd like to, at least I can kinda lay my claim to some of it...kinda.  
**

"Mom?!"

Emma stilled, unable to stop the waves of fear and confusion washing over her. Her first instinct, naturally, was to turn – to look over her shoulder for the approaching woman, the Prince's mother. But both the empty hallway and his previous statement about having no parents laid this theory to rest. _Me_ she thought _He means me_.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, digging the blade into the boy's throat hard enough she saw a few drops of blood well up.

The boy's brows knitted together, eyes darkening further in confusion "Emma?" he asked, voice rising in pitch.

_He knows my name. How does he know my name?_

"How do you know my name?" she asked, mentally cursing herself as it slipped out. To show her confusion was to show her weakness. She shouldn't be showing any weakness to this boy who was clearly trying to mess with her mind.

"It's you," he breathed, as if he hadn't heard her "It's really you,"

"Of course it's me you idiot," she snapped "I _am_ me, who else would I be?"

"A ruthless assassin," he joked, his mouth pulling up just slightly in the hint of a smile. _Goddammit kid, you need to stop that._ Why was he doing this to her?-she was just trying to do her job.

"I _am_ an assassin – and I'm going to kill you, kid, so don't even bother,"

His face fell at that, as if he finally, _finally_ believed her "Emma?" his voice rose even higher again. Small and confused and scared "Emma, what's going on?"

She grinned "I'm. Going. To kill you,"

Suddenly he was scrambling backwards, away from her sword "You're not Emma," he shook his head "You're not my mom,"

_Finally_ "Figured it out have you? I have to say, I think I'll be doing your kingdom a favour getting rid of you – you're really not the brightest of children,"

"Wh-who are you?" he stammered, voice barely above a whisper "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I asked her to," came a familiar voice, and the blonde snapped to attention without a second thought "Don't mind if I join you, do you Princess? I can never resist watching a good royal assassination. Oh and whilst I think of it – I brought you another audience member as well,"

He stepped aside and Emma turned to see Regina, a look of absolute horror plastered across her face.

The blonde frowned – why had he brought Regina? More to the point, why was he even here in the first place? She knew this was her big initiation – but no one had said anything about Jester coming along. Was it just supposed to be a surprise?

"Wh…what are you doing here?"

He grinned, dark eyes sparkling with mischief "Well you've been coming along so nicely – I thought it would be fun to watch you in action,"

"But I…I'm not…and why her?" Emma could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she looked from Jester to Regina to the boy cowering in the corner, face in his hands, and back again.

The man shrugged, grin still in place "Why not? Now are you going to kill him or not – need I remind you of our little chat yesterday?" he edged closer to the brunette and Emma watched as she flinched at his proximity.

"Hey I was doing fine until you came along," she replied defensively.

"Of course you were, Princess. Now get on with it," his voice hardened noticeably on the last part and Emma stiffened. So this was it then, she didn't have room for doubts anymore.

The blonde stepped forward slowly towards the hunched form of the boy prince, gripping her sword hilt so tightly that her knuckles went white. She paused as she reached him, trying to control the shake in her hand – _why did this fe__el so wrong?_

"Go on, just do it," he whispered, peeking out from behind his hands at the sword mere inches from his face. _Take a deep breath, I can do this I can do this I can do this._

She lifted the sword _I can do this I can do this I can do this_, she began to swing it back down through the air towards the boy, only to be stopped by a strangled cry from behind her.

"Emma! No!"

The blonde whipped around to see Regina, Jester's hands tightened around her neck in restraint, with such a heart-breaking look of horror mixed with disgust mixed with down-right panic on her face that Emma felt herself let the sword's tip fall back towards the ground again.

"Do it, Emma, don't listen to Queeny here – she's delirious," Jester's voice had risen to a light crooning pitch and the blonde couldn't help hear the madness seeping into it.

"Emma, don't…don't listen to him," Regina choked out as Jester's grip tightened.

"You – shut it," he growled "Do it Emma, _now_,"

"Just do it," the boy's voice came dejectedly from behind her and she began to turn back, but once again Regina's scream of 'No' stopped her.

"Mom?" the boy lifted his head a little.

"I told you – I'm not your Mom," Emma snapped back at him, only to realize that his eyes were staring right past her. She followed his line of sight – wondering if the boy's actual mother had finally showed up – only to see that he was now staring at Regina, of all people…and Regina was staring back at him with pained eyes above the hand Jester now had clamped over her mouth.

"Mom?" he asked again, sitting up shakily "Emma? Seriously – what's going _on_?"

Emma looked to Jester for help, but he just grinned and motioned for her to continue with a tilt of his head.

"Okay listen, kid, I don't know what's wrong in that little head of yours – but I'm not your mother and Regina isn't your mother either. So the sooner you can accept that – the sooner I can put you out of your misery,"

"But I'm not miserable," he replied quickly and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Kid, anyone as stupid as you are _has_ to be miserable. It's impossible to be happy when you're that simple-minded,"

"I'm _not_ stupid," he replied, anger seeping into his tone now "you're the stupid one – forgetting your own son! I don't know what he's done to you – but you're not right. You've got to be cursed or enchanted or something,"

The blonde just rolled her eyes, though for some reason or other his words struck her deeply, making her feel a strong sense of discomfort…which in turn just made her angrier.

"Right, okay, that's it. Time for talking's over. You got any final words, kid?"

He looked up at her; brown eyes wide and stubborn "No,"

"Good," she lifted her sword again, ready to strike.

"No – Emma stop!" Regina screamed again from behind her. Emma was sick and tired of interruptions, so ignored her, bringing her sword down in a swinging motion towards the Prince. She didn't realize that the brunette woman had flung herself between the boy and the sword until the sound of metal slicing flesh elicited a feminine-sounding gasp – not the wail of childish pain Emma had been hoping for.

"Mom?!" the boy practically screamed as the woman fell back against him, clutching at her stomach with wide eyes. Emma stood there gaping, her eyes traveling from the two people in front of her to the bloody sword in her hands…and finally to Jester.

Her leader hadn't moved from the spot where he'd been holding Regina, he was still standing there, calmly, his eyes dancing in delight as he took in the scene before him. The blonde frowned and turned back to Regina, only to be met with eyes full of betrayal and disgust.

"Don't touch me," the woman spat as Emma attempted to help her off the ground "I don't need your help,"

"Mom?" the boy asked again, and to Emma's shock the brunette turned to him.

"It's okay, I'm okay – just a flesh wound, see?" she soothed, taking him into her arms "It's all okay; you're okay, Henry,"

_Henry_.

Emma frowned, that name was…familiar.

"Time to go," Jester spoke suddenly from behind them, voice hard.

"But I haven't…he's not dead?" Emma asked, confused.

"I noticed that," he replied through his teeth "In this business we call that a failed mission,"

A fail, no – no she couldn't have failed. She _wouldn't _have failed if Regina hadn't gotten in the way.

"I can still do it!" she disagreed "Just get _her_ out of the way and I'll do it!"

"No," his voice was firm, deadly "You missed your chance – and now you're out of time. We have to move off. _Now_,"

"But I…" Emma trailed off, looking from Jester to Regina to the boy and back "I want to…"

"I want doesn't get, Princess. Now come,"

"But Regina she's…"

"Hurt, yes. She deserved it – she'll be fine,"

"And the boy…" _Henry_ her mind supplied but she tried to ignore it – the name felt…uncomfortable.

"Is in shock…besides which he's a coward. He won't follow us – will you?"

He shook his head mutely.

"See, coward. Now are you coming or do I have to drag you?" his mouth turned up into a smile at that.

"No, of course I'm coming," she replied quickly and marched to his side. Regina was still on the floor with one arm around the boy, one clutched to her side.

Jester turned and began to walk away, Emma following "Now, Queeny," he called in a singsong voice and she heard the woman getting up behind her.

"Mom? You're not going with them…you can't…what's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Henry," she replied quietly, the sadness in her voice making Emma's heart ache involuntarily.

"_Now_, Queeny," Jester said again from further down the corridor "Don't make me ask a third time,"

"Goodbye, Henry," Emma heard the whisper and turned just in time to see Regina place a careful kiss on the boy's forehead before getting up and walking towards them.

"Good girl," Jester sang as he led them towards a small door in the wall. He stood aside as Emma opened it, ushering first Regina then Emma through before following himself.

He didn't shut it quite quickly enough for Emma to miss the boy's final, confused shout of 'Mom'

* * *

They exited the castle in total silence, walking quickly and quietly back into the surrounding forest. It wasn't until they reached a small clearing that Jester, walking a few paces ahead, stopped and turned on them, eyes black and glinting coldly.

"I'm disappointed, Princess," he started, voice full of fake sadness "Really, I thought you were better. I thought that you were stronger,"

"I am strong," she argued, noting on some level how desperate and pathetic she sounded.

"No," he shook his head "You're weak…unready…unsuitable. You need to be hardened," he turned to face Regina "You both need to be hardened,"

"What can I do?" the blonde asked dutifully, and didn't miss Regina's little groan from just behind her.

"Ah Princess, so eager to please," he smirked "well at least you're still obedient so I suppose you're not a complete waste of space," he paused for a moment, as if considering "Alright, here's what we'll do – I'm going to give you a final chance to prove yourselves to me,"

"How?" Emma asked eagerly.

"A few years ago I had something stolen from me, something very precious. We just so happen to be approaching the town where this theft took place – so if you two can retrieve this item for me then it'll prove that you are both worthy members of the team,"

"And if we can't?" Regina asked, voice full of skepticism.

"Well then I'll have to downgrade you. You'll both no longer be used for missions and will spend your time helping out around camp. Cooking, cleaning…things like that," he smirked at the look of disgust on Emma's face "That motivation enough for you?"

The blonde nodded.

"Good, well then…let's go see what supper is, shall we?"

* * *

"Gramps? Gramps!"

"Whoa there, Henry, slow down," Charming caught his grandson by the shoulders just before he collided with him.

"I need to talk to you!"

"Not right now, Henry, I'm very busy – there's been a break in and a lot's been taken…I don't know how this happened…we have the best guards in the land and yet they still managed to get past them…we should all be very worried if you ask me, this problem has to be dealt with. Strength, that's the key here, Henry, we have to show strength…show the people that we're not afraid…"

Henry rolled his eyes as Charming ranted, he did this a lot.

"Gramps, _listen_, this is important!"

The king blinked and then looked at the boy, coming out of his daze "What is it?" he only then seemed to take in the boy's appearance – hair a mess, clothes crumpled and splattered with blood and blood seeping out of a small cut on his neck "My god, Henry, what happened?"

"I know who did it!" he panted, ignoring the question "Well…I mean I don't know everyone…there were clearly a lot of them but…but I know who some of them were,"

"Who?"

"Mom…it was my Mom…and Emma. Both my moms,"

"Emma and Regina?"

Henry nodded.

"You're saying that Emma and Regina did this?"

"Yes…well no…I mean they were there but I don't think they were themselves. Well I dunno Mom seemed kinda like herself but Emma…Emma was completely out of it she didn't even know who I was…and there was this man with them and we was clearly in charge…and they both did exactly what he said like he was controlling them or something," he was the one ranting now, falling over his words at an incredible speed.

"Hey, Henry, just slow down. You say there was a man with them?"

He nodded and Charming frowned.

"Tell me about him,"

**Please let me know what you thought, I really do love to know what my readers are thinking - even if it's a criticism. Also I know that things are still a little confusing, but they're going to begin to become a lot clearer.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys. I'm really _really_ sorry about the delay in an update - I feel awful but unfortunately life just kinda got in the way. I mean work stress, family stress, friend stress - everything that could have gone wrong lately has been going wrong. But anyway here's the next chapter and as always, thanks for reading and for all the support. I'm just sorry it took so long this time, I don't exactly take pleasure in keeping you lovely people waiting.  
**

**Also to the Guest who had the issues with the Henry situation (and anyone else who was confused by it really): I'm really sorry if you felt it didn't work, I do know how annoying it is when writers do something that throws you off. So I'm gonna see if I can explain to you where I'm coming from? To start with, yes True Love is very powerful – but I don't believe we've seen anything in the canon to imply that it would physically prevent someone from being able to kill (for example Regina had to 're-kill' Daniel and Red killed Peter whilst she was a wolf – him being her true love didn't override her wolf-y senses) though if there has been something and I missed it then I'm sorry, that's my mistake. Secondly, Emma's not actually cursed – there's something slightly different going on with her – and true love is supposed to break curses, not necessarily this kind of power. Thirdly, in my canon Regina is Emma's true love – so if being in close proximity to someone for whom you felt true love broke Jester's hold, then there'd actually be no story. I realize that you couldn't really have known that – I guess I just didn't think anyone would see it as a problem. So I hope that explains some things and that you're able to continue enjoying the story :)**

**Disclaimer: Well I still haven't heard anything…so I'm gonna assume I don't own Once Upon a Time. I do own Jester…kinda.**

They reached the town within a week, a week during which Regina avoided Emma completely. The blonde wouldn't have minded – she'd been avoiding the woman herself up until not very long ago – but so much had happened in the last few days, so much that she didn't understand – and Regina seemed to be the root of it. She wanted explanations, she wanted someone to soothe the niggling feelings inside of her that she couldn't shake, she wanted to know what was going on – and she wanted to know now.

She'd tried and failed to get moments alone with Regina but every time either Jester would show up and set her off on a task elsewhere, or the woman herself would scurry away without even so much as acknowledging eye contact. It was infuriating – a matter which wasn't helped by the fact that she was bored. Jester had put her on some kind of probation because of the failed mission – he said it was so she was ready for the next one, but it still felt like a punishment. In the week since the mission she'd missed three hold-ups, a house robbery and a hired assassination of some travelling noble tart who'd rubbed her host up the wrong way. Emma wasn't happy.

So when they eventually rolled into town she couldn't stop the excitement welling inside her – she was finally going to get some action, and she wasn't going the mess it up this time. Besides which, Regina was going to have to talk to her since this was a joint mission – whether she liked it or not – and that prospect cheered her up even more.

They parked themselves just outside of town and set up camp – Trade team already beginning to head into town to set up their market stalls. She was quite used to this now, having seen the process over and over again as they traveled, but a sudden thought occurred to her.

"Why are they separate?" she asked Rufus, who was helping her peg down a tent.

"Why are who separate?" he grunted a little irritably as he narrowly escaped hammering his thumb instead of the peg.

"Trade," Emma shrugged, turning to look at him "Why can't we go into market and sell things – and why can't they come fight with us?"

"You ever seen any of them fight?" he laughed "We wouldn't _have_ anything to sell at market,"

Emma laughed at that, it was true that she'd once seen a member of Trade faint at the sight of a bloody wound William had received during a heist.

"I guess so…but why can't we sell stuff though? Get rid of them – sell stuff ourselves – there'd be a lot more food to go around," she grinned, but Rufus shook his head.

"If the people who steal the stuff are the people who sell the stuff it's easier to prove that you're selling stolen merchandise – which, in case you hadn't realized - is an illegal offense. We use Trade team to cover our tracks,"

Emma frowned at him.

"Look if we steal a ring from some wealthy bint and then someone who knows her or knows of that ring sees people who match the description of the people who stole it selling that ring – then that's proof enough to get us arrested," he explained "If however a totally different group of people who had no known or provable connection to the robbery are seen selling the ring – then it's just a ring similar to a ring that's been stolen, instead of the stolen ring. They have no reason to believe it's anything other than a coincidental facsimile. That make sense?"

The blonde thought about it for a minute, processing it, then nodded her head "And that's why we're never allowed to act like we know Trade if we go into town then, right?"

"Right," he confirmed, then swore loudly as his hammer came down forcefully on his thumb.

"Ouch! Dammit! See, girl, this is what happens when you distract people!" he snapped at her. She was just about to apologize when Jester poked his head out from around the corner of the tent, a slightly mad grin on his face.

"Did I hear screaming?"

"Take her away will you, Jester, she's distracting me from work," Rufus replied, waving his arm in Emma's general direction, but not daring to take his eyes from the peg this time. Jester's grin turned into an evil little smirk.

"But of course, I need to talk to our dear Princess anyway," he turned and began to walk away "Follow. Now,"

Emma obediently dropped the bag of wooden pegs and started off after Jester, following him into the tent next to his caravan, noting that Regina was already sitting quietly in the corner. Once they were inside, Jester tied the door shut and rounded on them.

"Right you two, we're here – and it's time for you to prove yourselves worthy. Now the house you're going to is right on the other end of town – you should enter from the woods around the back, and exit through the market, it'll be easier to hide. The room you're looking for is on the second floor, right at the end of the corridor,"

"You know it would help if you told us _what _we're looking for," Regina added from her seat in the corner.

"And ruin the fun? No chance," he smirked "Besides, it'll be obvious once you're there – find the room, you'll find my…artifact,"

"And how do we know which house it is?" Emma asked, frowning and Jester just laughed

"Oh believe me, Princess, you'll know,"

* * *

"Queeny, dear?" Regina stopped short on her way of the tent, turning on the grinning man.

"What do you want, Jester?" she snapped.

"Now, now Queeny, no need to be rude," he smirked and she crossed her arms firmly across her chest.

"I'm waiting,"

"You know what the price is, don't you? If this goes wrong – if you don't succeed – you know what's at stake?"

The brunette nodded, not that it would really affect her – Jester had never let her do anything fun or that would take her out of camp – not since he'd realized the faults in his hold on her. Emma on the other hand – Emma would go crazy if she couldn't be in Combat anymore – not that Regina liked Emma being in Combat, she hated it – but at least it made her happy, in some twisted way. She could hardly look at the woman at the moment, images of her hands on a sword swinging down towards their son still too fresh and painful in her mind – but she also knew it wasn't her fault – and she still wanted her to be happy. Combat made Emma happy – so she had to resign herself to that and make sure it wasn't taken from her.

"You're sure?" Jester asked, stepping forward into her personal space "You know the price of failure?" looking up into his black eyes Regina felt herself shudder, the feeling that maybe the price would be greater than previously stated taking root within her.

"What is the price?" she asked, holding her ground as he stepped even closer, dipping his head so he could whisper in her ear.

"The price, my dear Queen – is your lives,"

She couldn't help the sharp intake of breath as she pulled away from him "What?"

He grinned, eyes glinting "You fail, you die. Simple,"

"But…but you said…"

"I know what I said," he snapped "I was lying – no need to put more stress on the dear Princess, she doesn't seem to perform well under pressure, after all. I told you so you know that failure is not an option. Do you understand?"

"I…" she couldn't quite seem to get words out, she was too angry.

"Oh and – just to clarify – if you do fail, I'll be sure to kill Emma first so you can watch," he smiled, a twisted and dark smile that didn't reach his eyes "Now run along, the sooner you start the better,"

* * *

The woods around the town were a relative picnic compared to some of the ones they'd traveled through and they made their way to the other side of town with little to no difficulty. Regina had been quiet the whole way – not that that was unusual – but Emma still couldn't help wondering what Jester had said to her after she'd gone.

"So, erm, where d'you reckon this house is then?" she asked as the house line they'd been following began to dissipate into forest.

"He said we'd know it when we saw it, Princess," Regina replied curtly "Just keep going,"

The blonde did as she was told, too excited by the prospect of making it up to Jester to care that much. They walked further, rounding a corner before stopping dead in their tracks.

"I guess he wasn't lying," Emma gasped as they took in the giant manor house that was so big that half of it was in town but the other half spilled out into the forest.

"Not about _that_," Regina murmured under her breath, but Emma simply ignored the comment, turning to her with a grin plastered on her face.

"This is gonna be awesome," she set off at a quiet run – one perfected from all the hold-ups she'd done with Combat – and wove her way towards the house. She was stopped about ten meters away by a careful hand on her arm.

"You might want to wait before blundering in," Regina said "We don't know if it's guarded,"

"It's not," Emma shrugged "If there were guards…they'd be guarding that door," she nodded her head towards a small wooden door set into the wall and then turned to face Regina, who looked just the tiniest hint impressed "See – all clear,"

The brunette nodded briefly and Emma turned back and began to make her way to the door by cover of the trees, Regina close behind.

"Stand back," she instructed once they'd reached it, but the other woman just frowned.

"Why?"

Emma rolled her eyes "So I can kick it down of course – it's not like they left it conveniently open for us or anything,"

Regina just sighed and shook her head, pushing Emma out of the way "If you kick it down you'll announce our presence to the whole damn town. You might be good with a sword but you don't half lack subtlety, dear,"

Emma pouted indignantly at this, but she couldn't help the little tingle she felt at the endearment. It felt comfortable and familiar – so naturally she shook it off and tried to ignore it.

Regina fiddled with the lock for only about a minute before the door swung open though – and Emma hated that she couldn't wipe the impressed expression off her face quick enough for Regina not to see it. The brunette smirked and swept an arm out in front of her

"After you then, Princess,"

Emma grumbled her thanks and walked through the doorway, drawing her sword as she did. The door opened onto a long, dimly lit passageway which they followed carefully until finally it opened out into a large kitchen. Emma stopped in her tracks and then backed up again, peering around the corner. There was food everywhere, covering every surface and people bustling around every which way.

"How the hell are we supposed to get past all of them?" Emma whispered, panic creeping into her voice.

Regina just smirked again "Leave it to me,"

"What are _you_ going to do?"

"Just trust me," she replied "now take my hand,"

"Your what?" Emma raised an eyebrow.

"My hand," Regina sighed, grabbing Emma's "Right, stay close behind me,"

The blonde did as instructed and apprehensively followed Regina out into the kitchen. To her immense surprise, they passed through the busy room and out into the hallway beyond without even being noticed.

"How did you do that?" she asked, suspiciously as Regina dropped her hand.

"Do what, dear?"

"Get us through unnoticed? It was like…like…"

"Like what?" her brown eyes were hard and Emma shook her head quickly.

"Nothing," she mumbled "nothing don't worry…thanks,"

Regina just nodded curtly "Shall we get on with it then?" she swept past the blonde and along the hallway.

"Yeah…yeah sure," Emma stared after her for a moment before her feet began to move.

The rest of the house seemed fairly quiet, only one preoccupied serving maid got in their way – and she'd quickly seen to that.

"All dealt with," she smirked at the brunette, wiping off her sword "Let's go,"

"You disgust me," Regina snarled, carrying on up the stairs.

"Hey I was just trying to help!" Emma stormed after her

"By spilling innocent blood…yeah you really helped. Thanks a lot, Princess,"

"Seriously Regina for the love of-"

"Shh!" the other woman silenced her as they reached the top of the ornate staircase.

"Hey don't try and shut me up! I mean what gives you the right to be so high and mighty?" Emma grumbled.

"No, Emma, _shush_,"

The blonde stopped and closed her mouth, tilting her head to one side to listen "What is it? More serving maids to dispatch?" she grinned, swinging her sword in a figure of eight.

Regina closed her eyes and took a long breath "_No_. Now put that goddamn sword down and _shut up_,"

She opened her mouth to protest but then thought better of it, Regina was barely talking to her to start with…maybe pushing it wasn't the best idea.

"Do you hear that?" the brunette breathed and Emma frowned, shaking her head.

"I don't hear anything,"

"Here," Regina put a hand on either of the blonde's shoulders and switched their positions at the top of the stairs.

"I still don't hear anything," she grumbled and the other woman rolled her eyes.

"Just _listen_," she hooked a finger around Emma's chin and pushed until her head was tilted again. The blonde strained, trying to quiet her breathing, until finally she heard it. The noise was so quiet that if Regina hadn't pointed it out she'd think she was imagining things – but now she knew it was there she wondered that she hadn't noticed it before. Though quiet, it was distinctive – and she couldn't help feel she'd heard it somewhere before.

"You hear it now?" Regina asked, startling the blonde.

"Yeah," she nodded "yeah I hear it. What is it?"

"I think we found our artifact," the other woman flashed a quick smile and started off again.

"Okay you really need to stop doing that, you know," Emma called as she stumbled to catch up with her "it's really not polite to just go running off without people,"

Regina just waved a hand in her direction as she continued along the hallway.

"This is it," she announced as she reached the door at the end.

"You sure?"

"Jester said the door at the end of the corridor – and this is where the noise is coming from – so yeah I'm pretty sure,"

"Fine. Shall we?" she mimicked the other woman and reached for the door handle, only to be stopped by the brunette's hand wrapping firmly around her wrist "hey!"

"Be careful," Regina whispered "we don't know what's in there," she was about to laugh when she met the woman's eyes and saw the sincerity in them – so instead she nodded, smiling

"I'm always careful,"

**Next chapter's written I just have to proof read it (once I actually have time to sit down I can rattle them off pretty quickly, it's jut finding the time, ya know?). Anyway, as always I really would love to know what people think.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: See look, I'm atoning for my sins by giving you two in one day. Plus this one explains some stuff. Kinda. **

**Disclaimer: I think you all know already don't you?**

The doorknob twisted smoothly in her hand, the door swinging open with ease.

"Well it's not locked," Emma mused taking a careful step forward to peer into the room.

"That's not a good sign," Regina whispered from right behind her.

"Oh don't be such a pessimist," Emma waved her off and took another few steps inside "I'm not dead yet am I?" she grinned.

Regina simply scowled and followed warily behind the blonde. The room was dim and poorly lit – there were dark, heavy drapes across the windows that blocked out the daylight, and a solitary torch burning in its holder right by the door.

"Gloomy, huh?" Emma laughed a little uncomfortably "So where d'you reckon it is then?" she asked, turning back to face the other woman.

"Well where's the sound coming from?" she asked, not completely patiently.

Emma tilted her head to the side again and squeezed her eyes shut. The noise was here, louder than it had been out in the hallway – and louder still to her right.

"That way!" she exclaimed after a few seconds and turned back to the sour-faced brunette "It's over there!"

"Tell me, Princess, do you want to alert the whole house to our presence?" she bit out under her breath and the blonde frowned in question.

"Keep your voice down," Regina hissed and walked past her, heading in the direction she'd pointed. Emma didn't allow herself to be left behind this time and ran to catch up, in her haste though she nearly ploughed straight into the other woman's back.

"Regina!" she exclaimed "Why'd you stop?"

The brunette didn't answer and Emma stepped around her until they were standing face to face.

"What is it?" she asked impatiently as the brunette just stared straight past her ear "Regina?" she finally turned to see what the other woman was looking at.

There was another window at that end of the room, but the heavy velvet drapes were parted just far enough for a beam of sunlight to filter through. The light fell upon a glass display case below the window and Emma frowned as she saw what was inside.

It was a flute.

* * *

The blonde was being even worse than usual and Regina was finding it increasingly difficult not to turn around and slap her. She missed Emma – the real Emma. The blonde was just a shell, nothing like the real woman. The woman she knew and…didn't altogether hate, no matter how she tried to. Despite her irritation though, she couldn't help but feel incredibly protective of her – because it _was_ Emma. That was the problem. Beneath the brainwashing and the mind control and all of Jester's stupid tricks the arrogant, blood-thirsty blonde was still her Emma. And she had to protect her.

They couldn't fail this mission; it was out of the question. Regina knew Jester and she knew that he had been serious when he'd said the price was their lives.

So she let Emma play hero, didn't stop her when she sliced up an innocent woman – because even though it was probably wrong and it wasn't _Emma_ – she had to accept that the blonde knew what she was doing. She'd been trained for this.

The minute she'd heard the noise Regina had felt uneasy, uneasy because she _knew _that noise. She recognized it – though from where she wasn't quite sure. The closer they got to the source the more uneasy she'd felt. It was like her whole body was prickling with the sense of danger – if she'd been a cat her hackles would've been raised and she'd be hissing.

So it was a source of great confusion when the room they entered didn't seem to have any source of danger in it. No magical weapons or evil sorcerers as she'd almost been preparing herself for. She'd almost breathed a sigh of relief that maybe Jester really had sent them to collect a particularly valuable set of cufflinks. Almost.

Until she saw it – sitting there looking innocent in a glass display case, the small slither of sun from the window illuminating it.

A flute.

It was a _flute_.

Suddenly realization came crashing down upon her, so hard she could barely breathe. She'd always suspected…always had a feeling of Jester's true identity. She'd heard rumors once – a long time ago when she was Queen and before she'd cast the curse – she'd heard rumors of people going missing. Whispers. Whispers of a man who could charm people away from their homes with his sweet music. She hadn't really taken much note – people disappearing was of little consequence to her – especially when she herself made people disappear all the time.

She'd heard her guards talking though, saying that no door or wall seemed to stop him. His reach extended beyond all defenses, his power was immeasurable and his hold was unbreakable. They called him The Piper.

So when she'd been taken naturally, naturally she'd had her suspicions. Who else had she heard of that snatched people right from their homes other than The Piper…and herself, of course? But then things hadn't added up right. Things about Jester didn't add up to the legend – perhaps most obviously his lack of musical instruments, not to mention his apparent difficulty in keeping his hold on people. It hadn't escaped Regina's notice that she wasn't the only one who seemed to have moments of lucidity. Sure, she had them more, in fact she was lucid most of the time – but she'd always figured that that was because of her magic. The others however – there were some of them who seemed to have moments of confusion, where their stories didn't make sense to themselves. She hadn't missed it in Emma either, there'd been moments – normally when Regina herself had been talking to her – when the blonde's green eyes had almost flickered with recognition.

So she'd assumed that it was just paranoia, that Jester was some other trickster who perhaps had taken his lead from the mythical Piper, but had never been quite as powerful. She'd been stupid. Because suddenly, standing there staring at Jester's lost 'artifact', suddenly it was all so glaringly obvious.

Jester _was_ the Piper. He'd just been without his flute.

The Piper without his Pipe.

It explained why he'd been having difficulty. Why he'd been so angry and violent when things had gone wrong. It was because he wasn't used to it, he wasn't used to not being in control. Absently, in a small petty corner of Regina's mind she made a joke about control freaks – but she quieted it quickly. This was _not_ a time for jokes.

She stood and stared at the flute, sitting innocently in its glass case, her mind going a thousand miles a minute.

Emma said something but she wasn't listening, it was as if she were hearing it through a veil – she couldn't tear her eyes away from the flute. It explained the noise, she thought then. _It's why I recognize it_. The noise was not so dissimilar to the call that had brought her to Jester – except that she knew without really knowing _how_ that it wasn't quite the same call and it wasn't calling to her. _It's calling to him_. Again she didn't know how she knew, but somehow she was completely certain that the flute in itself was calling only for its master.

Everything was slowly beginning to come clear to her, to make sense in her head. Emma was tugging at her but she shrugged her off and shushed her.

"Wait," she instructed without even really thinking about it, she needed to think.

He hadn't had it since at least before she'd been with him – that much was certain – and that meant that _he_ was the one who called people, he didn't need the flute per se. Except…except it was clear that without it he wasn't completely in control, like he wasn't at full power without it. _It's a part of him_, her mind supplied _it's why it's calling for him_. That certainly made sense, he could operate without the flute, but not nearly as effectively – and without him the flute itself was useless. That was why he wanted it back – so that he'd be at full power once again. Then he'd be the man from the legends again, he'd be…

"…unstoppable," she finished aloud, the word coming out as a frightened gasp. If they gave Jester the flute back then certainly there'd be no stopping him, no fighting him…no breaking free of him. Regina's head snapped round to face Emma, deep brown eyes widening in fear.

"We can't take it to him!" she exclaimed before clapping a hand over her mouth and spinning to check she hadn't been loud enough to announce their presence.

The blonde frowned at her "What d'you mean we can't take it to him? It's a flute it's not exactly gonna be heavy,"

Regina felt herself beginning to panic. What could she do? To go back empty handed was a death sentence, but then to give it to him was…a death sentence of a different kind. If he got his hands on the flute she knew for certain they'd never be themselves again. They'd be mindless slaves to his will – Emma a bloodthirsty barbarian and she a…well probably a kitchen slave, she could see Jester taking great pleasure in that.

She had to make a choice. _They_ had to make a choice. She turned to the blonde again and looked at her, just looked. It was still Emma. Despite everything, despite the mind control and the murder and everything, it was still Emma. _She_ was still Emma. Regina had to believe that Emma was still in there.

"Prin…Emma?" she asked carefully and watched as the blonde woman turned back to her.

"What?"

"We need to talk,"

The other woman rolled her eyes "Look, Regina, I don't know what's got into you suddenly but we don't have time for this – Jester trusted us with this mission and we need to redeem ourselves. So can we just get the flute and go? Please?"

"No,"

Emma let out a huff and started towards the glass case but Regina shot out a hand and grabbed her by the arm "Regina!" she protested but the brunette held firm.

"Emma. We _need_. To _talk_," she said slowly, looking up at her in a way she knew made the blonde uncomfortable, because she knew it. It was the look that made little glimmers of recognition spark in those green eyes. _I can't lose that_, she thought suddenly _that's all that's left of her and I can't lose it_.

"Okay _seriously_ Regina, I know you're mad at me but now is really not the time!"

"I'm not mad at you," she lied – she was, she couldn't help it even though she knew it was ridiculous. It wasn't Emma's fault.

"Wait – you're not?" the green eyes softened slightly in hope that made her stomach twist.

"No," she forced a smile "no but…but I need to ask you something,"

The blonde bit down on her lip and hesitated, her eyes flicking from Regina's face to the glass case to the hand on her arm and back again. Finally, she nodded.

Regina took in a deep breath and shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot, unsure as to quite how to proceed.

"If…if you could choose," she stumbled over her words, her eyes looking everywhere but the blonde's own "If you had the choice of…of dying as yourself – or _more_ yourself – or living as someone else…by which I mean as you but you wouldn't really be you, you wouldn't be in control…which one would you choose?" she finally risked making eye contact, and it was clear that the other woman didn't have a clue what she was on about.

"What?" she asked, as if to reinforce the point. Regina studied the green eyes and sighed – she wasn't Emma right now, not enough. She needed _Emma_ to answer this question, not the trigger-happy blonde replacement.

She took in another deep breath and moved the hand on Emma's forearm up to her shoulder, reaching her other hand out to mirror the action.

"Look at me," she instructed and the blonde complied, a tiny crease forming between her eyebrows in confusion.

"Regina-" she started but the brunette cut her off

"No. Shush," she stared deep into the blonde's eyes, absently letting her thumbs rub little circles on her shoulders. Soothing her, relaxing her "Emma I need an answer, and it has to be the honest truth. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Okay," she breathed "Okay. If they were your only choices – die as yourself or live as someone else – which would you choose?"

"I…I don't…" Emma frowned.

"Just choose one,"

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter," she snapped without meaning to.

"Tell me why,"

"Just choose, Emma!"

"I…"

"Please!" she screamed, shocking herself and stumbling back away from the other woman. She didn't see the blonde until she was right back in her personal space, until one of her fingers was wiping a tear she hadn't realized she'd shed off of her cheek.

"Please," she breathed it this time, barely a whisper "Just tell me which you'd want,"

Emma chewed on her lip for a moment and then sighed "I still don't understand but…I mean if I had to choose I guess…I guess I'd rather die,"

**So I think most of you had already guessed, but there's your confirmation - Jester's the Pied Piper :) Reviews make me happy...and I could do with some happy right now.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Argh this chapter did not want to come out. Not even slightly. So it's just a tiny bit shorter than usual, sorry about that. Thanks so much to everyone for the support - and thanks for your concern, means a lot :) I'm so pleased people are still liking this story...and the horcrux talk made me smile, I never really thought of it like that but I guess it's not that far off really!**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill**

Regina's breath hitched in her throat, her eyes falling closed.

"Why's it matter anyway?" Emma's voice floated to her – happy, so happy, _too _happy because she didn't know "Regina?" she felt a hand on her shoulder, shaking gently "Seriously, Regina, what's going on?"

It took an inordinate amount of effort on the brunette's part to open her eyes, to meet the blonde's bright, carefree green gaze "Nothing," she forced a smile "but we should go,"

Emma raised her eyebrows "That's kinda what I was saying all along – but then you got all weird,"

"Sorry," she mumbled "come on then,"

"Right," the other woman shook herself, clearly going back into business mode and heading for the glass case. Regina tried to control her breathing as she watched her carefully retrieve the small instrument and walk back, toying with it gently "It's so light," she grinned, the childishness of the action forcing Regina to close her eyes again and take a deep calming breath, heart twisting.

"Let me see?" she asked, forcing a lightness into her voice that she in no way felt. Emma obliged, handing the small flute to the brunette carefully. Once it was securely in her grasp, Regina took a few measure paces back before looking up to meet Emma's slightly bemused gaze.

"I'm sorry," she muttered quietly, trying to pour her sincerity out through her deep brown eyes "I'm so sorry, Emma, but I'm doing this for you,"

Emma's expression turned quickly from one of confusion to one of shock before lunging forward to swipe the instrument away from the other woman. She wasn't quick enough though; Regina dodged out of the way, gripping the flute tightly and snapping it in half in the very same motion.

"Regina!" Emma screamed "What did you do?!"

"I'm sorry," she replied, shaking her head sadly "I had to,"

"Why?!" she exclaimed, green eyes fiery with anger as she snatched the two halves of the broken flute away from the brunette. Regina watched sadly as Emma desperately shoved the two broken ends together in some desperate attempt to fix the broken instrument – only to feel her eyes bulge almost out of her head as Emma looked up triumphantly as it seemed to meld itself back together under her guidance.

"Thank God," the blonde sighed happily "for a minute there I thought I was gonna be cleaning pots for the rest of my life,"

Regina just shook her head, incredulous "No…no…it was meant to break,"

The other woman's gaze snapped back to her "Is that your pathetic idea of revenge, Regina?" she scoffed "Because I don't know _what_ I did that got you so angry with me – but that could have been very close for both of us,"

Regina wasn't listening; she just continued to shake her head "It should be _broken_,"

Emma rolled her eyes, but before either woman could say anything else there was a sound from the other end of the room and they both turned suddenly to see guards pouring in through the door.

"Shit," Emma breathed, eyes widening "what do we do?"

Regina just continued to stare at the flute in the blonde's hands.

"Regina?"

_It's supposed to be broken__._

"_Regina_?"

_Why isn't it broken?_

Emma let out an angry huff and swung her sword around, falling into a defensive stance "Fine then – _I'll_ deal with them, shall I?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice came from the doorway and Regina finally tore her eyes away from the reformed instrument to see a man, dressed in sickeningly fine robes striding into the room "now would either of you care to tell me what you're doing in my house?"

"We came to retrieve something," Emma replied quickly and the man's eyes dropped to her hands, looking pointedly from the flute in one to the sword in the other

"I can see that," he deadpanned.

"Let us go and no one needs to get hurt," Emma said, gripping her sword a little tighter.

The man just laughed "You do see all my guards don't you? I tell you what – you give me that back and I might let you both go with your lives,"

Regina looked up to see the panic in Emma's eyes – apparently even the over-eager blonde could see how hopelessly they were outnumbered. The man extended a hand

"Give me the flute, girl," he said, voice lowering menacingly.

Emma's eyes flicked to Regina's for help and the brunette finally stepped forward "I'd get out of the way if I were you," she replied, matching the menace of his voice double-fold.

"And what have we here? A common serving wench by the look of you,"

Regina let out a short laugh, eyes darkening dangerously "Oh you'll pay for that," she breathed reaching out to grab Emma's hand "Don't let go," she whispered, quiet enough that only the blonde could hear.

Emma looked down to the joint hands and then back up to her "Okay,"

* * *

Emma was angry with the brunette – she'd almost messed everything up for them – but they were seriously outnumbered and if she had a way to get them out of there with the flute and their lives then she had no choice but to trust her. Besides, it would be a lie to say that the feeling of Regina's hand in her own wasn't disturbingly comforting.

"Okay," she breathed, nodding slightly and she felt the other woman's hand tighten around hers slightly.

"When I say run, run," she added, turning back to face the man and his guards "I'm giving you a chance to let us go," she told him firmly "I suggest you comply,"

He just laughed again and motioned for two of his guards to step forward "Kill them," he instructed, sounding ever so slightly bored "and get the flute,"

Regina shook her head and smirked "Well you can't say I didn't warn you,"

Emma practically jumped out of her skin as she saw Regina's hand become engulfed in flames "Regina!" she shouted, worried that perhaps the guards had done something to the other woman without her noticing. But the brunette didn't seem affected by the fire, instead she quirked an eyebrow in pleasure and sent the fireball hurtling towards the man and his guards, who scattered quickly – some unable to avoid the flames as they set their clothing alight.

"Run!" Regina shouted and pulled Emma's hand, leading her towards the door. Emma wasn't sure that the fire would be enough to get them out safely, but as they ran through the flaming and smoking guards she noticed that although their leader was shouting at them to catch the women, none of them seemed to be quite able to locate them. It was just like before in the kitchens.

The blonde allowed Regina to pull her out of the room and quickly down the stairs into the main foyer where she'd slaughtered the serving maid; they were just rounding the corner back towards the kitchen when their path was met with more guards. The brunette didn't even seem to hesitate before throwing fire at them and Emma's eyes widened as the flame spread beyond just its target to the tapestries hanging on the wall beyond. She stood staring at the screaming guards until she felt Regina tugging at her hand again, pulling her quickly through the flaming hallway.

They ran quickly back through the kitchens and out the passageway they'd entered through – although not before Regina had set them alight too. It didn't surprise her when they were met at the exit by more guards, but Regina got them to the other side before throwing yet another fireball whilst Emma just watched on in horror. She could see a glowing orange light through one of the second floor windows, getting brighter until flames became visible as they lapped at the drapes there. The fire was lapping at the door they'd just exited through as well, the guards that had been there now on the floor, those still moving writhing in agony as the fire consumed them.

She could smell the burning flesh.

"What did you…?" she breathed, unable to force her voice any louder as she stared at the brunette woman by her side "How did you…?"

Regina just stepped closer to her, face expressionless, before Emma felt the flute being wrenched from her hand.

"Hey!" she shouted and made a grab for it but Regina practically danced out of the way, before making a dash back to the house.

"Regina!" she screamed – and she told herself she was screaming for the flute – but as the brunette ducked through the flaming doorway and disappeared into the smoking house Emma couldn't be sure she wasn't screaming for the woman herself.

"Regina!" she called again, but the woman was gone. Again, Emma told herself it was the flute she was after as she felt her feet carrying her back into the now smoke-filled passageway.

"Goddammit," she mumbled covering her mouth with a hand, taking it away again just long enough to shout for the woman again

"Regina!"

She picked up her pace to a run, gasping as she collided with something and the breath was knocked from her "Regina?" she asked, coughing.

"Emma?" the woman's voice was hoarse, but the surprise in it was obvious "Emma, what are you doing? Get out!"

"That's what I was planning on," the blonde replied, grabbing the other woman's hand and tugging as she started off back down the passageway.

"What are you doing?" Regina protested from behind her, coughing herself as the smoke surrounded them.

"Erm…getting you out. What d'you think I'm doing?" she increased her pace to a run, moving an arm over her face to protect it from the smoke. There was an explosion from behind them in the kitchen and the force threw both women to the ground. Emma got up quickly again but Regina stayed on the ground, turning her body back to look in that direction.

"Regina, come on!" Emma shouted above the now roaring noise of fire, tugging the brunette off the ground and half carrying her back out the still flaming doorway. As they stumbled out and into the forest Emma couldn't help the wave of déjà vu that made her stomach stir, but she quickly shook it off, turning on the other woman.

"What were you thinking?" she shouted, eyes blazing in anger.

"I-"

"What, did you think that burning alive might be fun?"

"Em-"

"Have a death wish do you?"

"I'm-"

"And do you wanna tell me what the hell that was in there anyway? Hmm? You just produced fireballs out of thin air, Regina!"

She watched as the brunette's mouth opened and closed before she frowned "You didn't mention the flute," she said simply, breathing heavily as she leaned on her knees for support.

"You want me to mention the flute?" Emma replied, seething "Fine then – where's the flute, Regina?"

"Gone," she shrugged, still breathless "What do you think that explosion was?"

"You…" Emma trailed off; almost too angry to speak "You burnt. The _flute_?" she bit out.

Regina shrugged again.

Emma let out a short exasperated laugh, bringing her hands up and letting her face fall into them "I should have left you in there to burn,"

The other woman didn't reply to that and Emma lifted her head just long enough to see genuine hurt playing on her features, made even more prominent by the exhaustion which seemed to have claimed her.

"Maybe you should have," she whispered after another moment and to start with the blonde wasn't sure she'd heard her correctly.

"Regina?" she asked carefully, gingerly beginning to step towards her "You were…I mean you weren't going to…you were coming back, right?"

The brunette's dark gaze fell to the ground.

"_Regina_?"

"So what if I wasn't?" she muttered and the blonde stopped in her tracks, green eyes widening "I had to make sure the flute was gone,"

Emma opened and closed her mouth several times, a whole range of emotions battling to tumble out of her. Anger appeared to be the victor though, as before the blonde knew what she was doing; her palm had collided violently with Regina's cheek. Once first, then again, then again. She grabbed the other woman's shoulders and shook her violently, before pushing her away so forcefully that she fell over as the blonde let out an exasperated yell.

Emma looked back and felt her eyes widening at what she'd done "Oh God…sorry," she exclaimed as she suddenly registered her own actions and rushed back to help the weary brunette off the ground "I'm so sorry I don't know why I did that,"

Regina just shook her head gently, eyes lifting to inspect her face. Finally, Emma saw a sad smile playing on the woman's lips "It's okay," she breathed, before slowly reaching out a hand to cup the blonde's own cheek, thumb stroking it gently

"Emma… my poor Emma," she shut her eyes, sighing "it's okay…it'll be okay,"

**Reviews make me smile. Smiling can burn nearly 0.01 of a calorie...so reviews are clearly very healthy :)**


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